The theme is corsets and I am to make 10 to exchange for 10 different ones.

Specs are to make each 5X7 inches with a 1/2 inch left margin for binding and include at least one vintage image.

I chose to do an original watercolor image of a lady in her dressing room. I used foil for the mirror, a trasparency for the dress manikin, and a small framed vintage image for the wall. Various scrapbook papers were used for the backgrounds and prismacolor was colored in for the floor. Some of the figures are hand tinted and some are tinted on the computer.

Here are the 12 I made. I always seem to make extras. The backs include more vintage papers, a large vintage image from the front with the corset definition, and a small atc with my picture, bio and contact info.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Does anyone else do that? Aches, pains, worries, thoughts, to do's...my mind is awake but my body isn't ready for the day.......

Bible study was great last night....fear...we all have it at some point in our lives...but what about those of us who cant' seem to shake it? We hide it, disguise it, ignore it, pray about it, hide it some more!But it never really goes away! Why? Where did it come from? How do we get fearful? Why do we fear things that will most likely never happen? Why do we fear things we KNOW will happen when there's NOTHING we can do to prevent it?

Am I crazy or normal?

An aside: I am almost finished with my angel altered book so I will be posting images:

Here's a favorite 2 page spread, maybe not for beauty but for idea and content: it's all about angels protecting us and we entertaining them unaware of their presence.

Background is scrapbooking paper, figure and reflection is original design hand painted watercolor image , mirror is foil, stool is original wc image and vintage image is the framed wall piece of a lady in a corset. Each piece is glued on separately and the base is watercolor paper or card stock with the left 1/2 verticle edge free for attaching to book.

I used scraps from pallettes, papers, scrapbook mesh, and a heart cut from paste paper in each. Assembled with mat medium and then covered in Mod Podge, a decoupage medium that really gave the pieces depth and shine.

Sometimes it's both. Many times I work and work and work and work and have almost nothing to show for it and sometimes I work and work and work and have much to show and appreciate.

I have had a very productive week, finishing work for my next Somerset Studio submission - 3 Nature items, 8 ATC's for the latest Artella swaps, have work ready to frame for an annual Valentine exhibit and more things planned to get busy with as soon as I clean up the studio from all of this. I can work in a mess for only so long and then MUST clean and reorganize to get going again.

I recently was able to get a friend to finally admit she understands my need for time and space to create. She also admitted she now thinks of me as an artist not a hobbyist. How do I get the rest of the people I know to realize this?

I'm also involved with a small group of ladies at a local art and history museum who are trying to get a local ATC swap group started.

So I say all this to say this:

PRODUCE and CREATE as much as you can as often as you can for as long as you can!

Sunday, January 14, 2007

everyday is a time for a great beginning....not just january 1 or monday but everyday we are allowed to get up and breathe in fresh air for a new day we can start over, better, bigger, happier than the day before....

i guess i am feeling particularly hopeful because my son is beginning his last semester of college, my husband is beginning his last year of work before retireing and we hope to begin building our retirement home soon after and i am working hard on my art and teaching (16 art students now-biggest class ever) so i feel very blessed and ready to begin each day of 2007 with enthusiasm and great expectations for a wonderful life....it is you know.

church was also inspiring this morning and has left me full of hope for a wonderful year as well.

just looked at a great new website you may want to check out. actually it's not new but revamped....find it at http://zurabeth.com copy and paste this link into your browser. enjoy!

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

I have been working today on images for the annual Hearts and Flowers exhibit for the City Club in Gastonia. I'm doing some of my funky canvas collages and in the process invented faux stamps with one of my previous watercolors. I'm including it here and you may want to use it in a collage and send me the image to see. I'm using them in multiples as packing tape transfers and letters to convey my message of "love makes the world go round" along with a clip art image of a couple. I'll post it when finished.

I had a call from a lady at church about taking the Worship chair position again.I said No but that I'd pray about it. I just learned the hard way that I have to say No when I need to say No. I just about get sick myself when I think of meetings and chairing anything. I think God understands and I know He has a different plan for me right now.I am trying to find it through prayer and my art even. I know I have been able to reach and minister through my art for him. I know I even do it without realizing it. When the lady called to ask me to exhibit at the Little Theater, it was a Christian Christmas play and she said she had seen my work enough to know it fit the theme. I was honored by that comment alone. I prayed over the pieces I took and hoped that above all my art may speak to someone's needs whether any sales were made or not. Well, I had no sales but I pray the art did speak to the viewers. I don't try to overly make my art a message of Christ but somehow it comes throughby him and his power. That was proved to me when a friend saw the crosses in the sky of the UAC piece. Well, art is my ministry right now and until God nudges me somewhere else that's where I'll stay. I can't begin to try to explain this to most people but I think you, the artist, will hear it and understand it. Art takes time and if I don't give it the time it deserves, it will suffer. So will I. I read yesterday in an article different artist's top ten lists of things, so I made my own top ten list of why I make art. High on my priority was that it is who I am and what I do and that without it I would lose a big part of my heart and soul, who I am.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Finally, I have all the holiday "stuff" put away. Why is it so fun in the beginning and such a chore at the end? I love Christmas and all it entails but I pretty much do it all and most women and get tired of not having help. But....I'll do it again next Christmas....

moving on....

I am gessoing a blank book to make into an altered book on angels. Got to do something with all those beautiful Christmas cards. ..

I am working on a shrine of my maternal grandmother, using a wooden pastels case, given to me by a retired artist...

I am ready to start back with my Woman journal coop project...

I am ready to start that new watercolor I sketched on wc paper 3(?) years ago of my son and I at the beach when he was less than 2. He's 22 now...

I need to pick up art from the Holiday shows...

I am trying to find valances to match the curtains that I got to match the new quilt I got for Christmas...

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Who am I kidding?I've already made all the same mistakes I have for the past several decades of new beginnings.Why am I so hard headed and stubborn and out of control? Is it hormonal?I do blame all my bad habits and attitudes on hormones since menopause hit a year ago.